Hammerhead
|home = New York City |membership = Maggia |occupation = Crime boss |height = 6'5" |weight = 290 lbs |gender = Male |abilities = * Bullet-proof skull * Skilled marksman * Deadly street fighter * Superhuman strength, speed and durability |voice actor = Keith Silverstein |original appearance = Hammerhead (Joseph) (Earth-616) }} Joseph Martello, more commonly known as Hammerhead, appears as the primary antagonist of The City That Never Sleeps downloadable content for Marvel's Spider-Man. A mob boss with a skull made of reinforced steel, he is the head of the Hammerhead family, one of the "families" of the criminal organization known as the Maggia. Following the power vacuum caused by the arrests of both Kingpin and Mister Negative, Hammerhead's crew is among those taking part in the resulted gang war for power over New York's criminal underworld. Hammerhead is voiced by Keith Silverstein. History Early history The man who would become Hammerhead was born in Russia. At an unknown point, he was recruited into one of the five "families" of the criminal organization known as the Maggia, before being nearly killed one day following a brutal beat-down. A surgeon then found him and saved his life, implanting a steel alloy plate in his skull in the process. The incident likely left him mentally scarred, as he would go on to become a homicidal maniac afterwards, eventually becoming one of the most influential gang leaders within the Maggia. ''Marvel's Spider-Man'' Sometime after Doctor Octopus's incarceration, Hammerhead breaks the ceasefire between the Maggia families, planning to regain the respect and fear that the Maggia used to have. He hires Black Cat to steal the five data drives needed to access the shared Maggia bank account (one of which is in his possession). However, Black Cat steals the drives for herself, including the one belonging to him, and fools him by giving him four fakes. Hammerhead's subordinates soon learn of Black Cat's trickery, driving Hammerhead into a murderous rage, ordering his men to blow up Black Cat's penthouse with her as vengeance. Despite Spider-Man's attempts to save her, Black Cat seemingly perishes in the explosion, with Hammerhead watching from a distance. Black Cat's deception forces Hammerhead to change his plans. He shifts to instead killing the other Maggia dons, giving him complete control over their operations and controlled districts. While the other four dons join together to defend their territory, Hammerhead's acquisition of illegally acquired Sable International technology gives him a powerful advantage. With their new weaponry, Hammerhead and his mob declare war on the other Maggia factions, resulting in a bloody gang war throughout New York. Hammerhead's base of operations is attacked by an NYPD squadron led by Captain Yuri Watanabe and Spider-Man. However, Hammerhead and his thugs overwhelm Watanabe and her team, and begin executing her officers one at a time. Spider-Man makes it in time to prevent Hammerhead from killing Watanabe herself, but Hammerhead escapes in the ensuing confusion. Going into hiding in the meantime, Hammerhead begins his plan to assassinate the other Maggia dons. Despite Spider-Man's best efforts, Hammerhead's men succeed in capturing the dons. Next, Hammerhead has his men create a diversion for Spider-Man and the NYPD by going after a convoy of police-acquired Sable weaponry. His real motive is to attack the Upper East precinct, which has possession of Sable International's "Project Olympus", an experimental battle armor, slaughtering many officers and civilians in the process. Hammerhead outfits himself the Project Olympus suit. As the final stage in his plan to seize control of the Maggia, he plans to kill the other dons in a public and televised execution at a construction site. However, he is foiled by Spider-Man, who confronts him on top of the construction site and is able to defeat him. Before the police can take him into custody, however, Captain Watanabe arrives on the scene. Driven over the edge by Hammerhead's schemes, she immobilizes Spider-Man before vengefully shooting Hammerhead in the head. However, as he is being taken away in an ambulance, one of his men sabotages the transport and revives him with a taser. After being resurrected, Hammerhead goes into hiding and uses the Project Olympus to replace most of his body with mechanical components, transforming himself into a cyborg. This leads to the return of Silver Sable to New York to retrieve her stolen Sable equipment. After getting information from Hammerhead's top henchman Tony, Spider-Man and Silver Sable team up to face off against him at the Colexco building. However, the Project Olympus-enhanced Hammerhead nearly kills Spider-Man and makes off with Silver Sable. After Black Cat, who is revealed to be still alive, rescues Spider-Man and gives him a drive to help defeat Hammerhead, he and Silver Sable use the drive to lure Hammerhead to a Sable International boat. There, Hammerhead is ultimately defeated by the two after they use a laser to break through the carbon steel in his head and Sable crashes her jet into him. Characteristics Appearance Hammerhead is a large man with black hair. Due to an injury he suffered in his youth, he has a carbon steel plate implanted into his skull, making his head flat on top. His face, particularly his forehead, is also heavily scarred as a result of the aforementioned incident. After Captain Watanabe's attack on his life, most of the flesh on the left side of his forehead has been burned off, exposing the plate underneath. Personality Hammerhead is characterized as a ruthless and sadistic man obsessed with power. He has no qualms about igniting a gang war or stealing humanitarian aid for his own benefit, and will resort to whatever means necessary to get what he wants. Hammerhead believes in the "good ol' days", the time where the Maggia controlled New York through fear and the police "knew their place". Hammerhead insists that his only wish is for the Maggia to be feared and respected again by New York's community, believing the other dons got "too soft" and allowed the organization's reputation to fall apart. Powers and abilities Hammerhead initially has no superhuman abilities, yet he displays above-average strength, lifting a fully-grown man into the air with one hand. Additionally, his cranial implant gives his head great durability, and allows him to kill someone with a single headbutt and survive being shot in the head by a rifle. He is also shown to be a skilled marksman and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. Upon his usage of Project Olympus, which essentially turns him into a cyborg, Hammerhead is made virtually indestructible. With it, he acquires superhuman strength that makes him capable of restraining and easily overpowering Spider-Man, as well as increased durability. It also enables him to move in short bursts of superhuman speed. Fronts Hammerhead has several business operations that serve as fronts for smuggling illegal currency printers, laundering counterfeit cash, and the like. Following the mission The Bar With No Name, the player can take these down to earn Base Tokens. Each front will have several waves of Hammerhead's men to defeat, as well as different sets of bonus objectives to complete for extra Base Tokens. The overall goal is to clear the area of enemies. There are, in total, four "Hammerhead Fronts" around the city. Original appearance Hammerhead first appeared in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #113 (October 1972). References Category:Characters in Marvel's Spider-Man Category:Bosses